124 Old Mill Road in Greenwich, CT: Mel Gibson’s Braveheart-Era Mansion

Tucked deep in the backcountry of Greenwich, CT, Old Mill Farm is a sprawling 75-acre estate with a storied past—one that includes Hollywood royalty, Wall Street power players, and a Tudor-style mansion that feels straight out of another era.

One of Greenwich’s “Great Estates,” the property (pics) was once home to actor and director Mel Gibson, who purchased it in 1994 for $9.3 million, during the filming of one of his most iconic movies—Braveheart. He spent 15 years restoring and modernizing the estate before selling it in 2010 for just under $24 million. But before Gibson ever set foot on the grounds, Old Mill Farm had already cemented its legacy.

Old Mill Farm was built in 1926 for investment banker George Ohrstrom, with architect Charles Lewis Bowman designing the massive Tudor-style mansion. The property was conceived as a country gentleman’s estate, blending traditional English design with the scale and grandeur of an American estate.

It’s one of the largest properties in Greenwich and is a rare example of Elizabethan Tudor-style architecture on such a grand scale. The 15,862-square-foot mansion includes eight bedrooms, 10 full baths, and seven half baths, a great hall with 40-foot vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, and stone walls, a rathskeller (traditional German-style basement tavern), double chef’s kitchens, multiple grand fireplaces, and a formal living room and dining room with intricate woodwork.

Beyond the mansion, the estate boasts an impressive range of amenities, including a boxwood maze and orchards, a tennis court and swimming pool, lawn chess set up on the expansive lawns, a horse stable with paddocks and riding trails, a spring-fed lake with a dock, and multiple outbuildings, including a Cotswold-style stone cottage, a log cabin, and a greenhouse.

Ownership Through the Decades

When Mel Gibson bought the estate in 1994, he and his then-wife Robyn Moore took on a major restoration project. By the time they were done, the mansion had been completely revived, modernized, and expanded while still retaining its old-world charm. Gibson nicknamed the estate “Wayne Manor,” a reference to Batman’s home, and hosted lavish parties there, entertaining Hollywood guests and industry insiders.

Some of the biggest changes made during Gibson’s time included the addition of a state-of-the-art movie theater, central air conditioning (a rare feature for a nearly century-old home), and extensive landscaping updates to enhance the gardens and grounds. Gibson held onto the estate for 15 years before listing it for sale in 2007.

It remained on the market for three years before being purchased in 2010 by Richard Lichter and his wife, Margrit Strohmaier, for just under $24 million. While the couple initially planned to retire there, they later decided it wasn’t the right fit for them and listed it again in 2015 for $31.5 million. After years on the market and several price cuts, it sold in 2019 for $13,250,000 to undisclosed buyers.